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The cartoon characters above were drawn by Peter (Stan) Dobson in the 60's. They are members of "The Tarantulas", "Moldy Warp", or "5/1d". 
Touch the name as they are active and will take you to their individual page or the group they were in.
A number of pages have music recorded by the groups in the 60's and recorded on reel to reel recorders probably by a person pointing a microphone at the stage .....hence the poor quality. With todays easy accessible technology, the results would be much improved.

Other band members not in the cartoons but with information are listed below

Please contact us with your memories of the 60's music in the Wharfedale area.

You can do this by pressing the "CONTACT US" button and messaging us

After years of austerity trapped in regulation grey flannels and stark white poplin shirts, our social and musical tastes dictated by a previous generation, there we were, exiting the school gates for the last time, 
unfettered and let loose on the world, symbolic in it’s way for the fundamental changes 
that were massing tsunami-like to sweep away the old order. 
                                        
             We were young, we were now, and about to lay claim to the 60’s.....

The Wharfe Valley in the 1960’s early 70’s was a great place to be for popular music. The many venues supported not only local but many top UK performers. The Hollies, Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry and The Four Pennies were just a few of the many bands that played at venues like the Kings Hall and Stoney Lea Hotel in Ilkley. The amazing thing is that the above were playing not at concerts but dances.
Local bands like The Tarantulas, Senators, Kingpins, Moldy Warp and the fabulously named Dene Barren and the Banshees were all major players in getting the Wharfe Valley scene up and running.
This website is a celebration of these local bands and the venues in the Wharfe Valley they played. We believe that it is important to record this era of our local musical history. We invite you to participate by contacting us with your memories and photos in the section ‘Contact Us’ We also invite other local bands in this period to tell us their history along with any photos to be included in our ‘Band’ section.

Who are we.
There are two authors of the website,
Stan Dobson (Tarantulas), and Des O'Hara (Senators)
both played at some time or other with Moldy Warp.
We started on this web site journey with our great mates 
Brian Bailey and fellow musician Peter Dickinson.

Brian sadly died in Jan 2013.

Peter Dickinson died May 2021 

Lovely people and good friends

We dedicate this website to them.

Brian alongside Bailey the family dog

Peter (Stan) Dobson

Des O'Hara

Soul Man - Brian and $5Shoes

The aim of this website is to offer a flavour of localised youth culture in a world long ago and far removed from apps and superfast broadband – so far back, indeed, that it flourished even before those chunky Del Boy ‘Log’ mobiles with nasal-picking aerials, when not every home had even a landline and Royal Mail provided the only alternative.

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Fifty or more years ago, the blinkered selectivity of youth kept global events firmly at bay. As far as we were concerned, to us, Tony Hancock was Prime Minister and his Cabinet was made by Chippendale. Although post-war issues were still fermenting in the background, what we really wanted to know was how to upgrade Radio Luxembourg’s reception on a Bakelite wireless! 

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There it would lurk, primed in the back bedroom with Mullard valves glowing, whilst its operative rushed about downstairs steeling himself with a slug of Hollow’s lemonade and a slice of Newbould’s bread toasted to within an inch of its life.  In his wake, armed with a Ewbank carpet sweeper, his mum busied about amongst the crumbs and dandruff.

Then, up the stairs, two at a time, to catch the new record releases via Kent Walton’s introductory – ‘It’s a Friday night ‘Hi’ from Pye and I’, wafting through the ether amongst exhortations to get involved with Buliver wristwatches, Armani wave sets, and the correct spelling of Horace Batchelor’s K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M.

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Youth clubs, of course, provided access to outside activities, such as sport or the simple joy of integration, whereas the actual making of music was a by-product fuelled by like-minded curiosity.

Peter Dickinson

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